[Don't give details about the position of the fronts. Not even to your comrades. Not even to your siblings. Not even to your girlfriends]. . Ministerio de Instrucción Publica. Dirección Gral. de Bellas Artes. Acción Obreros Litografos. Lit: GAL. Lithograph, 3 colors; 100 x 70 cm.

The Spanish Civil War
gave rise to a new expression-the "fifth column," meaning
a clandestine, subversive organization working for the enemy within
a country at war. Its origin is attributed to a remark by the Nationalist
General Emilio Mola: asked in October 1936 by members of the press
how he was going to take Madrid, Mola replied that he would attack
with four columns stationed outside the capital, and a fifth stationed
within, by which he meant the sympathizers trapped behind enemy
lines. Although it does not mention the term specifically, this
poster is one of many produced by the Republic during the war, warning
the population against the fifth columnists. The poster addresses
itself specifically to the militiamen, whom the government viewed
as unprofessional and unreliable. Indeed, in September 1936, just
two months into the war, the socialist prime minister Francisco
Largo Caballero ordered the militias to transform themselves into
fully militarized units of the popular army.

Both the Nationalists
and the Republicans established sophisticated intelligence-gathering
agencies early in the war. The communist-controlled Republican agency
SIM, employed thousands of agents to gather information not only
on the Nationalists but also on the political rivals of the Communists
within the Republican camp. In the final days of the war, this agency
became a communist political police force, engaged in torture and
political assassination, adding greatly to the atmosphere of fear
and suspicion in the declining Republic.

The poster was produced
by the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Information. Based
on its reference to the militias, we can date the poster to the
first months of the war, when these units were still active in the
front lines.